This invention relates generally to improvements in a system and method for forming custom-made shoe inserts conforming to a person's feet and, more particularly, to an automatic system for forming such custom-made shoe inserts.
A manual system for forming custom-made shoe inserts conforming to a person's feet is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 183,010. Each such shoe insert is formed with a contoured foot supporting surface substantially conforming to the contour of the undersurface of the foot for which the shoe insert is formed. This provides better and more comfortable support for the foot than has been heretofore provided by conventional insoles and shoe inserts of standardized contours and sizes.
The manual system disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 183,010 includes a foot impression mechanism for forming an impression of the contour of the undersurface of a person's foot and a blank shaping mechanism for removing material from a corresponding blank in conformance with that impression to form the shoe insert. The blank shaping mechanism must be manually driven to-and-fro while being manually indexed laterally so as to sense all portions of the impression and remove material from the corresponding blank in conformance with the sensed impression as required to form the shoe insert. Thus, the operator must have a considerable level of skill and perseverance to manually drive and index the blank shaping mechanism as required to faithfully reproduce the impression in the blank and thereby form the shoe insert.
In utilizing the manual system to form a pair of shoe inserts for a person's feet, the operator must first employ the foot impression mechanism to form an impression of the undersurface of one foot and must thereupon manually drive and index the blank shaping mechanism to form the shoe insert for that foot from a corresponding blank. The operator must then employ the foot impression mechanism to form an impression of the contour of the undersurface of the other foot and must thereupon again manually drive and index the blank shaping mechanism to form the shoe insert for that foot from a corresponding blank. This requires constant attention and effort by the operator during each operation of shaping one of the blanks to form one of the shoe inserts, as well as during each operation of forming an impression of the contour of the undersurface of one of the person's feet (hereinafter also referred to as fitting). Thus, the remaining amount of time the operator can spend on selling and other activities is substantially reduced.
The foot impression mechanism employed in the manual system comprises an array of pins arranged in columns and rows, a housing supporting the pins in spaced-apart relationship for vertical movement between retracted and extended positions, a loose-fitting diaphragm for yieldably urging the pins towards their extended positions and into contact with the undersurface of a person's foot to form an impression of the contour thereof, and a locking assembly for thereupon locking the pins in place to retain that impression. Since a loose-fitting diaphragm is employed for urging the pins towards their extended positions, an abrupt vertical transition is formed between the pins contacting the undersurface of the foot and the surrounding pins out of contact with the undersurface of the foot. This abrupt vertical transition tends to impede faithful sensing of the peripheral regions of the impression and, hence, faithful reproduction of those peripheral regions in a corresponding blank. Since the pins are supported in spaced-apart relationship, the surface of the impression itself is not as smooth and continuous as desirable to facilitate faithful sensing of the impression and, hence, reproduction of the impression in a corresponding blank. Moreover, the load-bearing surface area of the impression mechanism is reduced by employing an array of pins supported in spaced-apart relationship. Concomitantly, the unit pressure on the foot is increased resulting in increased distortion of the contour of the undersurface of the foot in soft fleshy areas compared to harder bony areas during the impression forming operation (or fitting).
The locking assembly includes an inflatable tube disposed in serpentine configuration between adjacent pairs of columns of the pins for forcing the pins against the housing to retain the impression of the contour of the undersurface of the foot. Due to high stress factors acting on certain regions of the serpentine-configured inflatable tube, it is somewhat prone to failure. This adversely affects the reliability of the locking assembly and results in more down time of the manual system itself.
The foot impression mechanism and the blank shaping mechanism employed in the manual system disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 183,010 are not as rugged and reliable as might be desired for a system to be used at shoe stores or other point of sale locations by relatively unskilled operators. In addition, the blank shaping mechanism employed in the manual system is not well suited to being automated without significantly adding to the complexity of the system.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improvements in the system and method for forming custom-made shoe inserts disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 183,010.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic system for forming custom-made shoe inserts.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved foot impression mechanism employing an array of pins for forming an impression of the contour of the undersurface of a persons foot without forming an abrupt vertical transition between those pins contacting the undersurface of the foot and the surrounding pins out of contact with the undersurface of the foot and thus without impeding faithful sensing of the peripheral regions of the impression and, hence, faithful reproduction of those peripheral regions in a corresponding blank.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved array of pins for forming an impression of the contour of the undersurface of a person's foot and for enabling all of the pins to be locked in place so as to retain the impression by application of a locking force to one side of the array of pins.
Another object of this invention is to provide such an improved array of pins for permitting more efficient utilization of a locking force applied to one side of the array of pins.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved blank that may be cut and/or otherwise shaped into a custom-made shoe insert for a person's foot.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an automatically-driven blank shaping mechanism with a reliable sensing and switching unit for automatically stopping the blank shaping mechanism at desired end points.
These and and other objects of this invention, which will become apparent from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and a reading of the associated description, are accomplished in accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the invention by employing a dual foot impression mechanism for simultaneously forming a separate impression of the contour of the undersurface of each of a person's feet, and by employing an automatically-driven blank shaping mechanism for successively reproducing each impression in a corresponding blank to form a pair of shoe inserts for the person's feet. The dual foot impression mechanism includes a first substantially continuous array of closely-packed pins yieldably urged against the left foot for forming the impression of the contour of the undersurface of that foot, a second substantially continuous array of closely-packed pins yieldably urged against the right foot for simultaneously forming the impression of the contour of the undersurface of that foot, and first and second cam-operated locking assemblies for respectively locking the first and second arrays of pins in place to retain the impressions formed thereby.
Each array of pins is supported within a rectangular opening of a common housing for vertical movement between retracted and extended positions, is disposed in contact with an inflatable elastic diaphragm for yieldably urging the array of pins towards the extended position and into contact with the undersurface of the corresponding foot, and is arranged in rows and columns with relatively thin elongated spacing members disposed between each column and with the pins and spacing elements disposed in slidable abutting relationship. All of the pins are cylindrically shaped with each pin having rounded end portions, a flattened or concave surface along the full length of one side thereof, and a rounded surface along the full length of the remaining sides thereof. The flattened or concave surface of each pin in each column of each array of pins is disposed in abutment upon the rounded surface of the adjoining pin furthest from the corresponding locking assembly in the same column.
The cam-operated locking assembly for each array of pins comprises an eccentric cam, a relatively hard elongated resilient pad mounted on a drive member within the common housing adjacent to a common end of each column of the array of pins for movement between an inoperative position out of contact with those columns of pins and an operative position in rigid locking engagement with those columns of pins, a follower member coupled to the eccentric cam and also universally and resiliently coupled to the drive member, and a manually-controlled lever coupled to the eccentric cam for turning it so as to move the follower and drive members towards the columns of pins and thereby move the elongated rubber pad to the operative position in rigid locking engagement with the columns of pins.
Each blank comprises a body of relatively soft material that may be shaped by cutting, that generally corresponds to the size and shape of the person's feet, and that has a substantially uniform thickness from heel to toe (although selected portions may be relieved) with generally flat top and bottom surfaces. The inner and outer sides of each blank extend in substantially straight lines from the narrower heel region to the wider toe region except that the lower portion of the inner side of each blank is relieved to conform with the contour of the lower portion of the arch.
The blank shaping mechanism comprises an actuated member having an arm portion with a sensing roller rotatably mounted at one end thereof for successively sensing the impressions formed by the first and second arrays of pins, another arm portion with both a rotary hemispherical cutter and an associated drive motor mounted at one end thereof for successively cutting material away from each blank in conformance with the corresponding sensed impression to successively form the shoe inserts, and a common mounting portion disposed at the other end of each arm portion for mounting the arm portions in a common plane and in spaced relationship corresponding to the spacing between each array of pins and the corresponding blank. A drive mechanism is employed for automatically driving the blank shaping mechanism to successively form the shoe inserts.
The drive mechanism includes an actuator member pivotally mounted along a lowermost portion of the actuator member on a rod extending between opposite sides of a frame for the system. In addition, the drive mechanism includes a threaded drive shaft rotatably mounted in an uppermost portion of the actuator member, and a pair of correspondingly threaded mounting nuts disposed on the drive shaft at spaced positions therealong. The mounting portion of the actuated member is attached to these mounting nuts so as to permit pivotal movement of the actuated member about the drive shaft as the sensing roller rolls along the surface of each impression and also to permit lateral movement of the actuated member along the drive shaft as the drive shaft is rotated.
One end portion of the drive shaft is coupled by a pulley arrangement to a reversible reduction gear motor for rotating the drive shaft in either sense to move the actuated member laterally along the drive shaft in either direction. The gear motor is in turn mounted on a housing pivotally coupled at one end to the drive shaft and at the other end by a link to one side of the frame for the system. A crank member is attached at one end to the other end portion of the drive shaft for rotation with the drive shaft and is pivotally coupled at the other end, by another link to the other side of the frame for the system so as to move the actuator member and, hence, the actuated member to-and-fro between retracted and extended positions as the drive shaft rotates. This moves the sensing roller along all portions of the surface of each impression as the actuated member is moved laterially along the drive shaft in either direction. A pair of permanent magnets mounted on the actuated member towards opposite ends thereof and a corresponding pair of reed switches mounted on the frame towards opposite sides thereof are employed for actuating a relay to turn off the gear motor when the actuated member is in both its retracted position and a leftmost or rightmost position. The various parts of the drive mechanism are positioned and dimensioned so as to provide the actuated member and, hence, both the sensing roller and the hemispherical cutter with substantially matching displacement profiles during movement of the actuated member from the retracted to the extended position and during movement of the actuated member from the extended to the retracted position.